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223 Moses Hall
223 Moses Hall
Sir Ralf Dahrendorf's political career began in Germany in 1968, when he was elected as a Free Democrat member of the Baden-Wrttemberg Landtag (state parliament). The following year he was elected to the Bundestag, and became a member of Willy Brandt's Social Democrat-Free Democrat coalition government as a junior foreign office minister dealing with European affairs under Foreign Secretary Walter Scheel. In 1970, however, Dahrendorf left domestic politics to become a member of the European Commission. Initially responsible for foreign trade and external relations, he took the research, science and education portfolio in 1973. After his period as a European Commissioner, Dahrendorf's career was primarily academic and intellectual, and shifted from Germany to Britain. He was Director of the London School of Economics between 1974 and 1984.